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PCAOB Chief Olson Discusses Board's Public Policy Role, Priorities for 2008
by Stephen Joyce, BNA (Subscription required for full article)
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chairman Mark Olson outlined the PCAOB's policy role and priorities at a financial reporting conference at Baruch College, according to a BNA report.
Citing the growing number of countries (about 30) that have implemented similar organizations to the PCAOB since the inception of SOX in 2002, Olson emphasized the importance of financial reporting and audit supervision as a major public policy issue, in a story by Stephen Joyce.
Remarking that the overall quality of auditing has significantly improved, Olson said that in 2008 the PCAOB will focus on new financial products “which have created greater risk and therefore are subject to even greater audit scrutiny," according to Joyce’s article.
Joyce also reported on Olson’s prediction that “the increasing convergence in accounting standards will enhance the convergence of auditing supervision, in part because the eight largest accounting firms in the United States are probably the eight largest in the world as well, and the methodologies used by those auditing firms are increasingly similar around the world.”
